My brother-in-law, Lance Everett Brown fell ill over the holidays and our family has been asking for prayers for good health and healing, good vibes, positive energy, well wishes and love for him and my sister, Jen Habada Brown.

Lance and Jen now need our help in raising funds to help offset the medical costs in order to provide Lance the care he needs to win this fight. The hospital expenses for this year are expected to reach $15,000 in out of pocket expenses, and we are trying to come up with additional funds to cover the cost of naturopathic oncology care which is not covered by health insurance. In the midst of all of these new and unexpected expenses, Lance is no longer able to work and Jen has been forced to take an extended leave of absence to care for him at home.

Here is how our family’s story about how Lance”R” beats cancer begins…

Lance and Jen fell in love and got married in July 2016. They had a blast building a tiny home in Portland, OR and starting their life together with their dog, Floyd. After 18 months of tiny home living, they relocated to their current home in Salem, OR in late 2017 and just began settling in.

2018 hit like a ton of bricks. Lance was hospitalized on December 31, 2017 after returning home to Salem, OR from a trip to visit Jen’s family in Chicago, IL over Christmas. Initial imaging indicated a kidney infection and inflammation in the abdomen. Other symptoms included severe hip pain, weight loss and loss of appetite. Lance was released on January 2nd after undergoing a colonoscopy and having a stint put in the left ureter to help his left kidney drain.

After discharge, lymphedema of the torso, hips, thighs and ankles sent him back to the ER.

Results a few days later showed cancer cells in the colon. Lance was admitted to Salem hospital on January 5th and his oncologist performed more tests. Results showed stage 4 cancer of unknown origins. There was evidence of cancer in many places, including the colon, lymph nodes and bones.

Without knowing where the cancer had begun, Lance’s oncologist began chemo the next morning using a cocktail of carboplatin and paclitaxel. This combination is a treatment for many common forms of cancer, and we were hoping this would target and kill the cancer cells while we were waiting for more advanced tests to reveal the origin of the cancer.

On January 24th, the day before he was due for his second round of chemo, Lance’s doctor decided to change course of treatment. He felt that the drugs were not working, and preliminary results indicated the possibility of the cancer starting somewhere in his GI tract. Dr. Pierce decided to change the chemo to Fluorouracil (5-flourouracil), Leucovorin and Oxaliplatin. These drugs will target more specifically cancers of the GI systems.

Lance is young, healthy and strong. He and Jen are confident he can fight this and will be sent into remission, and eventually be cured. Anything you are able to contribute will be helpful to them during this time. There is no amount too small. As Lance begins to heal, they are excited to settle back into their happy life together.

Lance's wife, Jen habada will be accepting funds on his behalf to pay expenses directly.